The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-08-12

and dying underneath. Out of that car but
four people came cut alive. On top of the
second car lay the third, and although the latter
did not cover its bearer as completely the ne
beneath, its bottom was smeared with the blood
of its victims. The other three cars were not SO
badly crushed, hut they were broken and
twisted in every conceivable way, and every
crushed timber and beam represented crushed
human frame and a broken bone.
Instantly the air was filled with the CRIES of
the wounded and the shrisks of those about to
die The groans OF mon and the screams OF
women united to make appalling sound. and
above all could be heard the agonizing cries of
little children, as, in some instances, they lay
pinned alongside their dead parents.
And there another terrible danger yet to
be met The bridge was still burning and the
wrecked cars were laying and around the
fercely burning mbers. Everywhere in the
wreck were wounded and unhurt men. women
and children, whose lives could be saved if they
could be got out, but whose death. and death
in most horrible form, was certain il the
twisted wood of tho broken cars caught fire.
And to fight the fire there drop of
water aud only some fifty able bodied mon who
had still presence of mind and nerve enough to
do their duty. The only light was the light of
the burning bridge, and with SO much of its aid
the fifty men went to work to subdue it. For
four hours they fought like fiends. and for four
hours the victory hung in the balance Earth
be fought and so the attempt was made to
smother it out There was no pick or shovel to
dig it up, no baskets or barrows to carry it in.
and so desperate they that they dug their
fingers down into the earth. which long
drought had baked almost hard as stone, and
heaped the precious handfuls thus hardly won
upon the encroaching flames. and with this
earth, handful by handful, kept back the foe.
While this going on. other brave
crept und erneAth the wrecked cars, beneath the
fire and the wooden bars which held prisoners
so many precious lives, and with pieces OF board
and sometimes their hands, beat back the flames
when they flashed up alongside some unfortu-
nate wretch who, pinned down by heavy beam.
death by fire was certain and while the fight
was thus going on, the of the workers were
filled with the groans of dying men, the an
guished entreates OF those whose death seemed
certain, unless the terrible blaze could be extin-
guished, and the cries of those too badly hurt
to care in what manner the end were brought
about, SO only it would be quick. So they dug
up the earth with their hands, reckless of the
blood streaming out from broken finger nails,
and heapinG it up in little mounds, while all the
{ while came heartreneing cries. "For Gods sake
don't let us burn to deathw
But finally the victory was won the fire was
put out after four hours of endeavor. and as it's
last spark died away light came up in the
to take their place, and dawn came upon a scene
of horror. While the fight had been going on
men had been dying, and there were not so
many wounded to take out of the wreck as there
had been four hours before. But in the mean
time the country had been aroused; help had
come from Chatsworth Forest and Piper City
and as the dead were laid reverently alongside
of each other. out in the corntield there were
TeauJ DHDuS TO take tHcfu luto SlaLSWOrLu,
while some of the wounded were carried to
Piper City. One hundred and eighteen was the
awful poll of the dead, while the wounded num-
bered four times that number. The full tale of
the dead cannot, however, be told yet for days.
Chatsworth was tn rned into a moreue to-day.
The town hall. the engine-house the depot were
all full of dead bodies, while every nouse in the
VILLAGE hadi its n woundad Thera
were over one hundred corpses lying in the ex-
temporized dead-housss, and every man and
woman was turned into amateur but jealous
Over in tbs lumber-yard the noise of
hammers and saws rang out on the air, and in it
busy carpenters were making rough collins to
carry to their homes the dead bodies of the ex-
cursionists who twelve hours before, had left
their homes full Of pleasurable expectations of
the enjoyment they were going to have during
the vacation which had begun.
When the news of the disaster was first
flashed over the wires prompt aid at once
sent. DR.. Steele. chief surgeon of the Toledo,
Peoria & Western railroad, had come on at
a SD ecial train, and with him were two
other surgeons and their assistants. From
Peoria also came Doctors martin, Baker, Flag
loere and johnson, and from every city whence
the unfortunate excursionists had come their
physicians and friends hurried to help them.
From Peoria also came delegations of the Red
Men and the Ancient Order of United Workmen,
numbers of members of both societies being
the Inflated train, and after o'clock in the
morning there were plenty of people to do the |
work that needed such prompt attention. In
the town hall the main hospital. and in it |
anxious relatives and sorrowing friends sat- |
tanning gently the sufferers faces asking the |
attending surgeons, they bound up the |
wounds, and insisting that there must be hope |
Down in the dead-houses fathers. husbands.
brothers, sisters, wives and children tearfully |
inspected each face as it uncovered, and |
sighed as the features were unknown cried
ont in ,,icbx rbav4 he all fer |